In a surprise to absolutely no one, Courtney Dauwalter led wire-to-wire to win the Nice Côte d’Azur by UTMB 100-miler on October 5. She also capped off an undefeated season that included decisive victories, course records, and crashing men’s podiums at the Transgrancanaria 126K, Ultra Trail Mount Fuji 100-miler, and Hardrock 100.

It could be boring, routine, habituated. But it’s not, and there’s a very simple reason why. Dauwalter was ostensibly here to qualify for next summer’s Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. “All” she had to do was win. (Actually, she didn’t even need to win, she just needed to finish in the top three.) But Dauwalter didn’t just win. She went to the depths of the well—or as she would say, the “pain cave”—to obliterate the field by five hours. Five hours! That’s nearly a 25 percent difference in time between her and second place Enrica Dematteis of Italy.

Not only that, she threw down a valiant fight for the overall title.

The fact that she came up just short of that honor is about as close to “failure” as the 39-year-old from Leadville, Colorado, gets these days. And of course, her race was a resounding success.

Ultimately, she ran out of real estate, crossing the finish line on the Promenade des Anglais in downtown Nice, France, in 21 hours, 35 minutes, and 57 seconds, less than 15 minutes behind men’s winner Cristofer Clemente Mora from the island of La Gomera in Spain’s Canary Islands. Mora, 38, is no slouch at running, by the way. He runs professionally for Hoka and has excelled at everything from the Run the Rut 50K, which he won in 2016, to fifth at TDS in 2023 and a victory last year at the Puerto Vallarta México by UTMB 100K.

But like most ultra-trail runners, Mora has contended with his ups and downs. He dropped out of three UTMB World Series races this year before finally nailing it in Nice. Not Dauwalter. The last race she DNFed was the Hardrock 100 in 2021 because she was puking her guts out on the side of the trail. She rose from the ashes by winning Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc just six weeks later and has never looked back, adding numerous prestigious titles to her palmares since including: the Hardrock 100 and Diagonale des Fous in 2022, her jaw-dropping Western States 100, Hardock 100, and UTMB triple crown in 2023, and her slew of victories this year.

It’s a resume anyone other than Dauwalter would be thrilled to accomplish over a lifetime. And yet she seems to attack each race with the fervor of an unknown rising star desperate to prove herself. In a sport filled with unpredictability and risk, she rises to the challenge time and again.

That’s not to say everything always goes right—Dauwalter, always gracious and composed in victory, is also unafraid to bare her soul on the race course. She told us through blue lips at the finish line of UTMB last year that every step of that nearly wire-to-wire win was hard. The thing is, she’s just so much better than nearly everyone else that her margin for error is so wide, she can work through deep lows and still win by hours.

Dauwalter’s dominance never gets old precisely because she gives it her absolute all even when she doesn’t have to. She said this race was “très difficile” compared to even some of her other through-the-night wins from this year.

“This course is really unique I think,” she continued. “The terrain you get to cover. The rocks, the roots, the rain overnight. I found it very difficult, and I’m very happy to be here now.”

So relatable, in the least relatable way possible. She’s emblematic of the runner struggle, the human struggle, in the form of a trail running god.

How Dauwalter Dominated Nice Côte d’Azur by UTMB

Perhaps the hardest part of Dauwalter’s day came before the starting gun event went off. As she  made her way to the start line, she graciously stopped for selfies with throngs of adoring fans and even fellow racers. So it was probably a relief when the starting gun went off at 12 P.M. on October 4, and Dauwalter and a field of nearly 600 took off from the ski village of Auron in the Maritime Alps at 5,200-feet.

She went out with the lead men as they made their way up through the wind-swept mountains past the Refuge de Rabuons and to the highpoint at over 8,700 feet. Clad in her quintessential long, baggy shorts (this time emblazoned with tropical features such as palm trees) and an oversized bright orange short sleeve T-shirt, she traced the iconic ridges of the Mercantour massif in Mercantour National Park and ultimately hit winter.

But a bit of rain and flying snow was no problem for the former Nordic skier. As the men around her put on coats, she stayed in her tropical garb. Is she even human? It certainly didn’t look like it as she floated down the technical mountainside and flitted through aid stations with her characteristic calm efficiency, putting on chapstick as her husband Kevin added fresh soft flasks to her running vest. (None of her aid station stops throughout the race hit two minutes.) And then it was poles back out as she headed into the night and up the Col de Madeleine and into third place overall.

As the sun rose over the Mediterranean Sea towards the finish line, Dauwalter had already covered over 85 miles of the relentless mountain terrain. Shades on, she moved into second on the final grunt over the Plateau Saint-Michel and navigated the slippery rocky trails along the coast and urban staircase-laden trails through the greater Nice area. It didn’t look easy—Dauwalter gingerly picked her feet up over rocks and roots, shuffled down tight staircases, and grimaced in concentration (or dare we say pain?) as she rounded the marina in Nice. But as she passed cheering fans with less than a mile to go, she cracked a smile.

At 9:36 A.M. Dauwaler broke not only the tape, but also the women’s course record by nearly six hours. She immediately turned around and clapped for the fans lining the finish line.

“I feel really lucky we got to come experience this race, this course, this place,” she said. “When I came over that last hill and saw the sea and I could start to see Nice I was thrilled. Super psyched on the entire field. I hope people will come cheer for other runners coming in today.”

This victory not only caps off another epic season, it sets the stage for perhaps an even more enticing 2025. The only other name in the sport to come close to Dauwalter’s level of dominance is, of course, fellow American Katie Schide. Since her victory at UTMB in 2022, Schide, too, has slayed women’s fields and vied for men’s podiums. She really cemented her status as Dauwalter’s only competitor by breaking Dauwalter’s course record at UTMB this summer. We can only hope now that Dauwalter has qualified for the 2025 edition of the 107-mile lap around Mont Blanc that we will see a revision of the head-to-head showdown we’ve all been waiting for.

Best of the Rest

In a testament to the unfettered growth of the UTMB World Series over the past two years, most Nice Côte d’Azur races contained a few big names with a quick drop off in depth. There are simply too many UTMB World Series races, in addition to the rest of the races in the sport, to support competitive field at each one.

So unsurprisingly Jon Albon of the U.K. cleaned up in the 50K, crossing the line in 4:15:31—eight minutes ahead of France’s Simon Paccard. This year’s Zegama champion Sylvia Nordskar of Norway won the women’s race in 5:08:48, five minutes ahead of Italy’s Camilla Magliano. Valentin LaCroix of France took home victory in the 100K in 11:19:04, and Norway’s Ingrid  Due-Gundersen won the women’s race in 15:02:49. Just five weeks after his astonishing win at UTMB, Vincent Bouillard cleaned up in the 20K (1:32:07). French compatriot Marie Nivet won the women’s race in 1:48:04.

While Dauwalter hopefully kicks back next to the waters reminiscent of a blue slushie, there’s no rest for the weary for UTMB staffers around the world. The UTMB World Series continues next weekend at the Kodiak Ultra Marathons by UTMB in Big Bear Lake, California, and also at  TransJeju by UTMB in South Korea, where many more runners will pour their hearts into qualifying for the UTMB World Series Finals in Chamonix, France, next August.

If they’re lucky, in a year they may find Dauwalter next to them on the start line.